Thoughts for a New Year

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many. The Lord will surely look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing." (Isaiah 51:1-3 NIV)

We have entered into a New Year - 2008. Before us lies a road that none have trodden on before. Yes, we make plans for what we will do, for what we will experience, and for what we will hope for during the year. But those plans and experiences and hopes must be couched in the "will of the Lord." The reality is this: the only certainty we have about 2008 is that God is in control and He will guide the affairs of our lives to bring about good (see Romans 8:28).

A quote from John Henry Jowett, one of the truly great preachers of the past, has been an encouragement to me as I enter into a New Year. I trust it will be a blessing to you. "It is not mine to worry about the coming day, but to fill the immediate moment with radiant duty. My Lord is the Pioneer, the great Maker of roads, and He will see to the appointments and provisions of the way. He has His scouts, His advance guard, opening the highways across the waste. 'I will send My angel before thee,' He says. Yes, the Lord will look after the road."